Your Hand in Mine
by LittleDorkable
Summary: When one door closes, another door opens. May Maple has left her childhood behind her and is focusing on the future. With her best friends beside her, nothing could go wrong. Or so she thought. A familiar, yet unfamiliar face has appeared in the crowds, and May promised herself she would never look back, but what happens when the past starts to catch up? CS, ORS, PS & IS.
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes :** Hello, hello, LittleD here! I've had this idea written on a notebook a while back and decided that I should take it up. It's Contestshipping based since I really thought it would fit in. I don't plan on this story being a dramatically long one that spans over 30+ chapters. It'll probably be less than 20.

To anyone who is familiar with my other story Of Secrets and Desires, it's currently on a short pause. I've gotten around to almost finishing the next chapter, but writer's block forbid me from doing anything to it.

Anyway, enough of me, I hope you enjoy the prologue to what I hope is a good story. :D

**Disclaimer : I do not own Pokemon in any way.**

* * *

Prologue

...

_Once upon a time, a boy met a girl._

_..._

Beautiflies flew freely in the air as swallows chirped songs in the morning air. Clouds rolled lazily in the sky as the sun glistened with warmth. A girl about six raced outside of the cream coloured house with an older woman and man trailing her.

"Wait for us, dear," the woman called. Her curls bounced as she jogged over to the little girl. "Now take my hand and we'll walk over together." She held out her hand for the brunette to take just as she opened the white gate.

"Shall we get going? I bet they'll be waiting for us," the man said. He held the woman's other free hand as they made their way over to the white house on the other side of the road.

As they entered the front yard, they made their way up the steps. The woman rapped on the door melodically as they waited patiently at the front doors.

Another woman with mint-green hair swung open the doors happily, a grin evident on her face. "Norman! Caroline! I'm glad you found the time to come over with all the packing you've been doing." She leaned down to meet the little girl's gaze. "Hi May! Remember me, Auntie Theresa?"

May stared curiously at Theresa, tipping her head to the side. "Auntie Theresa?"

"Aw, you're so cute!" Theresa cooed. "Why don't you come on inside?" She opened the door wider as the family of three walked in and took off their shoes. "Make yourselves at home." Theresa locked the door and led them down through a door that led to the living room. "Please sit. Derek isn't home yet, but I'll make some tea so we can talk."

Before Theresa could head over to the kitchen, May caught her by the hem of her shirt and tugged on it. "Where's Drew?"

"Andrew is in his room upstairs," Theresa answered.

"Okay," May said, nodding. She ran in the direction of the staircase and headed up.

* * *

"You're leaving Hoenn?" the chartreuse haired boy gasped. His shoved his bangs out of his eyes and slumped back against the headboard of his bed. "That means we won't see each other again or talk to each other or play together…"

"I told my mommy and daddy I didn't want to leave, but they said daddy got reassigned to a gym in Sinnoh," May said gloomily.

"Well, don't forget to write then, okay?" Drew suggested. "I might not be seeing you off when you leave, so I guess I should give you this now." He climbed off his bed and crawled underneath it to retrieve a small poorly wrapped box. "I found this while I was outside one time and cleaned it up real good. It's supposed to be your birthday present, so don't open it till then."

May received the box in her hands and nodded. "Okay!" She inwardly smiled to herself and felt all warm and tingly on the inside. _What could this mean_, she asked herself.

* * *

May stared out from the window inside the taxi. She watched as her parents made brief conversation with the Hayden family and Professor Birch, who kindly rented a plane for them to transport the bigger items in their move. She shifted her gaze to Drew and her other friend, the ruby eyed son of Professor Birch, Brendan. May waved half-heartedly at them just as her parents piled into the car.

_Good-bye Drew,_ May thought.

* * *

**Author's Notes : **Well, what did you think? It's a bit short, but the future chapters I write for this, I hope to be longer. A little more info on the story, I won't be uploading as much on this unless I find the time to as well, but I'll try to regulate on both this and my other story.

So, if you'll be so kind and to review this story? I would really like to know your opinion on this, or if there's any mistakes, or questions? And if you _do_ review, I have a question for you:

What do you think was in the box?


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes : **Wheee, so this is the first chapter of Your Hand in Mine! And I was enjoying every moment while writing this chapter. It's not significantly long, but I assure you it's still worth the read. :P

My next update is most likely going to be Of Secrets and Desires. I have finally found some speck of inspiration.

Thanks all who have read and reviewed this story. I found your reviews rather nice and sweet and I was overjoyed to see such positive comment(s) about this story. c:

Well, anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Disclaimer : I do not own Pokemon in any way.**

* * *

Chapter One

…

_They were the best of friends._

…

"Why are you doing this to us?" a brunette yawned, her chestnut hair swaying as she walked. Wrapped around her neck was an eevee sleeping soundly. She frowned as they walked to the entrance of the Veilstone city mall.

"Aw, don't be like that Leaf! It's Sunday and school starts tomorrow, so we _have_ to get new outfits," their bubbly midnight haired friend, Dawn Berlitz exclaimed. "And besides, there is always a new student or two, so we have to make an impression."

"Yeah, we don't want to look like Conway on his first day back to school," May added. "He's always wearing some weird suit or another…"

"But why do _I_ have to be here? I'm a dude for Arceus' sake," cried Ash Ketchum. The poor raven haired boy had his head bowed and his shoulders slumped.

"For moral support," Leaf answered. She nudged him in the ribs to catch his attention. "For twins, I would've thought we would both be equally smart, but I suppose not."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash demanded.

May giggled and smiled at the two. "Come on, let's go to Beautifly Boutique first!" She picked up her pace with Dawn following closely.

* * *

"Isn't this skirt cute?" Ash mimicked in a high pitched voice. He held out a frilly pink skirt with white laces and posed.

"You're not going to attract many girls by doing that," Leaf commented.

Ash dramatically gasped and clutched his heart. "You are so mean!"

"Knock it off you two," May told them. "Ash, if you aren't going to shop, wait—" Before May could finish, Ash had tossed the skirt in the air and bolted.

"I feel sorry for him," Dawn said suddenly.

"Why?" Leaf asked.

"He always hangs out with us, he needs some guy friends," May answered for Dawn.

"Paul and Ash seemed to be on good terms," May said whilst rummaging through another rack of shirts. She held out a white cardigan with red flower prints. "And Paul sometimes hangs out with us, when we're not at the mall that is."

"Hey, that's a good point!" Leaf agreed. "But I don't get why Ash isn't hanging out with Paul right now…"

"Paul's too busy with that nasty Ursula," Dawn said sourly, her lips pouted. "Why does such a cool guy like Paul want to do anything with a witch like Ursula?"

Leaf sympathetically patted Dawn on the back. "Aw, it's okay Dawn, you still got the rest of your life to confess to Paul." She shoved a yellow top at Dawn and said, "Try this on."

Dawn gave a quizzical look at Leaf and wandered into an open changing room. She came out wearing the top and a dark washed jean skirt that stopped at mid-thigh. She fiddled with pink bow on the camisole and furrowed her brows. "I like this combination, but I feel dirty."

"All you need is this to fix your 'I feel dirty' problem," May said. She passed the cobalt eyed girl a red, short sleeved hoodie. "Now you look ready for your first day back to St. Oak's."

Leaf looked out through the store windows. "Let's go get something to eat," Leaf suggested, stroking her eevee's tail. "I think Ash has starved to death."

The said teen was face first on the bench outside, his Pikachu tugging on his shirt. Onlookers gave Ash weird and disgusted looks as they passed by.

"All right, fine," Dawn sighed. "May, go wait outside with Leaf. I'll go pay and join you momentarily." May nodded and followed Leaf outside.

* * *

Seated at a table in the food court, the gang had already gotten what they desired to eat, or in Ash and May's case, the entire food court selection.

"Slow down you two, you'll end up choking," Leaf said. Ash just continued to eat messily while May gave Leaf an apologetic look. She sighed, "People are looking..."

"Oh just leave them be," Dawn said, waving a hand at their direction. "They'll always be grumpigs when eating!"

"Hey!" Ash and May exclaimed in unison.

Leaf just shook her head slightly and continued to watch her eevee eat her leftovers. "Do you think we'll get along with any of the new students? Last year's batch were all horrible." Under her breath, she muttered, "bunch of screaming girls…"

"Don't worry about that, you should take it as it comes," Dawn suggested.

"Phew," May sighed. She rubbed her stomach and smiled. "That was good stuff!"

"I'm with you on that one May," Ash agreed.

"Pika-pikachu!" Ash's pikachu said, tapping his foot slightly.

"Oh, that's right!" Ash exclaimed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pouch filled with pokemon food. "Here you go, buddy." Ash shook out a few pellets and handed them to Pikachu who ate it gratefully.

"Now that we're done eating, let's continue shopping!" Dawn said with enthusiasm.

"I thought we were done when you got your outfit for tomorrow," Ash cried.

"You should know, Ash. Dawn never settles with only one outfit," May giggled. "Now let's go!"

* * *

As they passed by a jewellery shop, something blue and sparkly caught Ash's attention. He instantly moved away from the group and pressed his face up against the glass.

"I never knew you were into jewellery, Ash," May said.

"What? I'm not," Ash confirmed. "But that azurill charm looks really nice and I think Misty would like it."

"So you're getting that for Misty, huh?" Leaf smirked. "Well, I think it's sweet my older bro is finally confessing. How long has it been now, four years?"

"Three and ten months," Ash corrected. "And I want to start off the school year different as well. You guys are always telling me how Misty has a crush on me or something."

Dawn nodded. "She'll be back tomorrow, so I think it's nice you're giving her something."

May subconsciously fingered her necklace charm, recalling that one day from her childhood. "Yeah, I'm sure she'll love it."

"Go on and buy it then, Ashy," Leaf urged. "Come on, it even says 'last in stock' right beside it!"

Ash snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. He rushed into the store, and from the store windows, the girls were able to see everything that went on. Ash was making pointing signs to the necklace and the store clerk was nodding. When Ash pulled out his wallet, beads of sweat ran down his face. He said something to the clerk and quickly ran back out.

"I'm short like, fifty dollars," Ash said. "Anyone wanna lend me some pokedollars? I'll pay them back eventually."

Leaf sighed. She reached for her wallet in her pocket and pulled out to twenty dollar bills. "Here," she said. She shook her head in a teasing manner. "But only because I want Misty to be happy _and_ that you won't be 'forever alone'."

Ash gratefully took the money and came back out minutes later with a pale blue gift bag with complicated shiny swirls. "I got the necklace!" he exclaimed, holding it out in all its glory.

The girls clapped without so much enthusiasm. "Good job Ash," Leaf said sarcastically. "You should let me hold it. You have a bad habit of losing things." Ash grumbled and handed the bag to Leaf.

May smiled. "Okay, let's go to Sinnoh Styles." For Ash's benefit, she added, "it'll be the last stop for today."

* * *

May stood off to the side as she watched Dawn raid the skirts on the shelves. She looked beside her where Ash was playing with Pikachu's ears. On her right was Leaf who was occasionally looking at shirts and talking to her eevee.

May sighed loudly and Leaf turned to look at her. "Is something wrong, May?" she asked.

"N-No, I'm fine," May said. "It's just another school year is about to start… I don't see why my parent's enrolled me at St. Oak's anyway. I'm perfectly capable of travelling the world on my own and participating in contests."

"I see what this is about," Leaf murmured. "I'll try not to press into your matters, but maybe you should just… I guess I don't know what you're supposed to do," She scratched Eevee's ears and let out her own sigh, "but you told me that he left a note saying he was going to wait for you, right?"

May nodded confidently. "Yeah."

"Then you shouldn't give up," Leaf said. "Who knows, maybe he's searching for you too."

"You're right," May said. "I'll try my best to finish my last year at St. Oak's and then go on my own journey." _To look for him,_ May finished mentally.

* * *

Just as they were about to go to their respective home, a teenage boy bumped into May, slightly pushing her back.

"Hey! Watch where—" May stopped short when she noticed that bit of hair sticking out from his cap. "Um… y-you should be more careful." May quickly picked up her pace, her hands clenching and unclenching.

"May, wait up!" Dawn shouted, following the brunette. Dawn turned around and gestured to the twins. Ash and Leaf looked at one another before running after the pair.

* * *

Under the black and white cap, recognition flashed in his eyes as the teenage boy let out a breath. "May, huh…?" A smirk slowly formed on his lips. "It's been a while."

* * *

**Author's Notes : **So, I think this chapter went pretty smoothly. And just to keep you wondering, there will be at least _two_ new characters entering this story in the next chapter, so look forward to that!

And to what was in the box Drew gave to May in the prologue, well, I had planned to introduce that in this chapter, but it wouldn't feel right, so look for that in the next chapter!

Were you pleased with this chapter? If you were, please leave a review! They are one of the other things I enjoy to read on this site other than stories. Please be honest, and constructive crictism is welcomed (I have a tendency to type what I think than what I actually planned to, and my grammar/spelling is average). :P


End file.
